After a long stint of heated controversy over the new mascot for the University of Mississippi, rumors have begun to spread that Colonel Reb may soon be revived, once again, as the star mascot of Ole Miss.
“Growing up, it was tradition, and it never meant to me what the administration painted it as last year,” says Ole Miss Psychology major Carrie Boone.
Boone, a fifth-year Psychology major and die-hard advocate, claims that she is a collector of Colonel Reb paraphernalia, both for collectors’ value and sentimental value. “Everybody says it’s a race thing, but I have seen many African American students walking around campus wearing Colonel Reb merchandise, people from other countries.”
The controversy surrounding Colonel Reb began as a racial issue, as many viewed the Colonel not as a symbol of old-fashioned Southern heritage, but as a plantation owner equipped with black slaves. The debate is a constant pendulum, swinging back and forth from one cultural extreme to the other.
Aside from the mass of young university enthusiasts, the old Colonel has an arsenal of influence waiting patiently in the wings.
The Colonel Reb PAC (Political Action Committee) began a state-wide petition in July, 2011 to reinstate the Colonel as the official—and final—mascot for the University of Mississippi. If 100,000 registered Mississippi voters sign their petition (20,000 from each of the five Congressional districts), Colonel Reb will be put on the ballot for a state-wide 2012 election.
Spokesman Bryan Ferguson of the Colonel Reb Foundation explained, “Reb has not been allowed on any official ballot because everyone knows he’ll win by a landslide.” Ferguson said that in 2004, 94% of currently enrolled students and 88% of alumni voted to keep Colonel Reb as their mascot.
Says Boone, a little sadly, “He was the face of Ole Miss.”
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